Flint Hills Regional Council

Specific Need

The Flint Hills Regional Council’s goal is to stretch our local dollars further by using donations from Geary Community Match Day and apply these dollars toward grant match requirements—expanding our capacity to bring additional grant funding to our region.

Most of our funding comes from restricted grant funding. Your support of the Flint Hills Regional Council not only empowers Geary County and the region overall, it enhances our ability to use your donation for match dollars. This year, the Flint Hills Regional Council has been managing a total of 10+ grants bringing millions of dollars of benefit to cities and counties across the region. This was made possible with very minimal local match funds to support our work. Your contribution would allow us to pursue additional grants to benefit this region returning on your investment many times.

Our largest challenges are two-fold: 1) We have limited access to funding to meet match requirements; 2) The use of grant funding is significantly restricted, and unrestricted funding is required to meet basic operational expenses. Approximately a third of the awarded funding helps to protect and preserve our region's largest employer and economic generator--Fort Riley and the surrounding communities through the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC) grant.

The Flint Hills Regional Council serves as an official economic development district, which enables us to apply for invitation-only/ non-competitive funding through the . Economic Development Administration (EDA) in support of our region and implementation of our regional economic development plan serving Chase, Geary, Lyon, Morris, Pottawatomie, Riley and Wabaunsee Counties.
In 2022-2024, our Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfield grant provided more than $500,000 in environmental assessments for commercial private property owners interested in ultimately making improvements and revitalizing their property. $150,000 of these funds have been used to create a downtown revitalization plan for Junction City and perform Phase I and Phase II Environmental Assessments for downtown property owners. Junction City will also be a part of the next Brownfield grant application of $1,500,000 for the Flint Hills Region providing new area planning on Grant Avenue and assistance to Brownfield property owners.

We cannot do this alone! Your Match Day donation would help support our overall operations and mission to enhance economic vitality and improve quality of life in the Flint Hills. The Flint Hills Regional Council exists to collaborate, advocate and empower communities to create the best and most prosperous region imaginable.

You can help support this important work taking place in our communities with a gift to the Flint Hills Regional Council. Your gift is tax deductible. Consider making a donation today to take advantage of the Geary Community Match Day benefits so we can stretch our local dollars further and keep applying for additional grant funding!

Mission

Enhancing the economic viability and improving the quality of life through regional collaboration in the Flint Hills.

Profile

The Flint Hills Regional Council is a voluntary service association consisting of 21 member jurisdictions working in partnership to enhance economic viability and improve the quality of life in Geary, Morris, Pottawatomie, Riley, and Wabaunsee County and beyond. The Flint Hills Regional Council works hard to bring in millions of external dollars to support our region, with the vast majority of the funding being applied toward projects that directly benefit the region. We serve as an official economic development district, which means we are able to access non-competitive funding from the Economic Development Administration to implement our regional economic development plan.

We also provide community planning, grant, and technical assistance services. We understand and value the importance of working collaboratively, as we are stronger together and more effective. Industry markets, workforce, public health, access to healthcare and mental health services, emergency services, and environmental issues do not stop at jurisdictional boundaries. These issues require cooperation and coordination between communities. The Flint Hills Regional Council exist to support the facilitation of collaborative efforts that bring mutual benefit to the region.

Your support of our efforts would be greatly appreciated.